"Hey, are you ready to go?"
Mary Margaret asks as she enters the inner office of the station and claims the seat favoured by Regina a couple of hours ago.
"Go?"
Emma frowns, glancing up at the narrow window lining the cells, but with darkness settling early this time of year, she can't tell if it's raining. She'd presume so, as the schoolteacher rarely opts to hang around and wait for a lift home otherwise, as she claims the walk helps her think.
Right now, I need something to help me do the opposite...
The blonde sighs, stacking up a couple of sealed envelopes and placing them in her out-tray.
"To Granny's. We said we'd go and try some of the specials she's added to the menu."
Snow elaborates.
"Oh, right."
Emma nods with far less enthusiasm than she would ordinarily show at the prospect of being fed, but she forces a smile and grabs her jacket.
"David will meet us there, and I mentioned we were dropping by tonight to Leroy, so he might show up... Sorry."
"It's cool. Maybe Ruby will have her answer."
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind. Is it icy out?"
"Just wet."
Snow shakes her head as she follows the Sheriff down the hall and out of the station. Waiting for her to lock up, she rubs her hands together before hurrying over to Emma's car.
"You need to get one of those keys that opens the doors at the press of a button."
She gripes as she hops from foot to foot in a bid to keep warm while the blonde wrestles with the driver's side door lock.
"It wouldn't work in a car this old without rewiring the whole thing or whatever they'd have to do."
Emma shrugs as she falls into her seat and yanks the door shut behind her.
"You could get a new car that isn't falling apart. I'm sure they'd even let you pick the colour!"
The schoolteacher laughs.
"What's wrong with the colour?"
The blonde frowns, and Mary Margaret hastily shakes her head and assures her she'd meant nothing by it, although her expression tells a different story.
"I guess I could just use magic to open it remotely."
Emma muses as she starts the engine and waits for the windows to defog.
"No."
Snow replies firmly, glancing over at the Sheriff and reminding her sternly
"You don't know what you're doing. You promised you wouldn't go messing around with any of that stuff."
"In the house."
The blonde reminds her mother of her promise, feeling guilty as she thinks about the dreamcatcher shut away in her nightstand upstairs.
"In general! Emma, you don't understand how any of it works! And you have literal proof that giving in to magic's allure is a dangerous business! Just look at Gold and Regina."
"I don't think what happened to Regina had much to do with magic."
"She was obsessed with it!"
"Well, yeah, I know, but only because of what happened."
"What happened is she let power go to her head."
Snow replies in a clipped tone, and Emma chews on the inside of her cheek as she recognises the schoolteacher's current mannerisms as those belonging to whom she'd once been in the Enchanted Forest.
"That's not all that happened."
She disagrees, putting the car into reverse and revving the engine before Mary Margaret can say anything else on the matter.
"Boo!"
Ruby growls as she grabs the Sheriff's waist from behind, and Emma yelps before turning around to face her with a scowl.
"That's a good way to get kicked, you know."
"What are you, a horse?"
The waitress giggles, gesturing towards one of the booths close to the bar and taking a seat.
"No, but I don't want you squeezing me when I've just eaten my body's weight in pumpkin pie."
"You don't want me squeezing you, period."
"So you have figured that out, and yet..."
"Shush. You love it."
"Do I?"
The blonde raises her brow and offers an otherwise nonplussed expression which has absolutely no effect on her companion.
"So...?"
Ruby grins, leaning forward expectantly with her hands cupped pointedly behind her ears.
"So, the pie and the apple crumble were nice. The squash and chard salad thing not so much, but that's probably more of a reflection on me than on the dish."
"Yeah, because I really want to know what you think of this week's menu."
The waitress rolls her eyes, before glancing up sharply when Granny calls over to her from behind the bar
"What are you doing? I thought you were setting up tables for tomorrow."
"I will, I'm just asking Emma what she thinks of the menu."
Ruby replies sweetly, earning herself a gruff 'hmm' before returning her attention to the Sheriff.
"What about the tables?"
The blonde asks lamely.
"I live here. If I have to spend ten minutes doing them after we close, I'll manage."
"I guess."
"You're avoiding me."
The waitress accuses bluntly, but, rather than seeming distraught over the fact, she appears highly amused.
"... It worked, didn't it?"
She whispers, and when Emma simply thins her lips and stays silent, she shrieks delightedly
"I knew it!"
"Ruby!"
Granny warns, and the brunette bites back smartly
"I'm taking my break!... Do we have any wine?"
"Ruby Lucas, you-"
"-Emma asked, and she's a paying customer."
The waitress points out with an overzealous frown, and Granny narrows her eyes behind half-moon glasses before turning her stern gaze over to the Sheriff.
"I suppose you'll be wanting two glasses with that?"
"Uh, sure."
The blonde nods, accepting her fate and elaborating helplessly
"Red, please."
"Aw, thanks for treating me, doll."
Ruby smirks, and she waits for Granny to come over with a bottle of merlot, two glasses and a glower, before returning to the matter at hand.
"What happened?"
She asks, pouring them each a generous serving, and Emma shakes her head as she accepts her drink and throws the brunette's curiosity back at her.
"It was your idea, what happened with you?"
"Oh... Well..."
Ruby clears her throat, suddenly looking uncharacteristically shy, and the blonde studies her intently as she tries to deduce whether her change in demeanour is genuine.
"You fucked Leroy, didn't you?"
She jokes in a bid to lighten the mood, and the waitress pulls a face while glancing over at the table by the window where the dwarf sits deep in conversation with Snow.
"No!... And, wait, you fucked someone?!"
"What?! No! I was just joking! Hell no!"
Emma hisses as she feels her heart drop down into her stomach at the very idea given the scenes she'd played a part of.
"Okay. Me neither."
Ruby chuckles, before leaning forward to ask in little more than a whisper
"... Did you want to, though?"
"I-... Uh-..."
"I did."
The brunette admits, flashing her teeth in a nervous grimace as she keens quietly
"Eeeeeh! Oh, fuck, it was so weird! Like... I knew I was dreaming. I knew I was dreaming and I was in control of what I was doing and saying, but only to a point, you know?"
"... Yeah."
"I was walking through the woods, and I figured that was probably okay because I didn't have my cloak on, and then I ended up standing outside the front door of this little cottage wondering if I should knock or not. I knew the place, so I knew who lived there, and I wondered for a moment if it really was just a random dream that had nothing to do with the charm because, well, I'd never really-... I'd never really thought about them that way before."
"Who?"
"You don't know them."
Ruby shakes her head, looking mildly relieved over the fact, but when she notes the troubled look on the Sheriff's face, she gets up and slips onto the opposite bench beside the blonde. Leaning in close, she taps the base of her wineglass nervously with her fingers as she murmurs into pale curls
"You can't tell anyone, okay?... The person the charm showed me was-... Well, it was a girl."
She pulls back in order to watch the Sheriff's face and gauge her reaction.
Sensing the tension between them, Emma relents and shares all she's willing to admit about her unwelcome dreamscape.
"Same."
"Oh?!"
The brunette's eyebrows shoot up as her anxiety evolves swiftly into intrigue, before she cocks her head and adopts a small smirk.
"A girl?"
"It's not you."
The Sheriff informs her sternly, and Ruby giggles as she offers the blonde's thigh a friendly squeeze under the table and laments pleasantly
"You have no taste."
"Evidently."
Emma replies sarcastically, before nipping the tip of her tongue as her mind betrays her with memories of tailored suits, expensive decor, witty eloquence and elegant mannerisms. Clearing her throat, she strives to clear her mind and asks the brunette curiously
"So, who was it?"
"One of the girls I used to pretend to haggle with at the market. She'd swap me butter for eggs and I'd always pretend as though she was raking me over the coals with what she considered a fair trade, but in reality, I just liked speaking to her and wanted to keep the conversation going for as long as possible."
Ruby reminisces, her demeanour once more chatty and relaxed; seemingly unphased and rather amused by her mind's unlikely lechery.
"I never put two and two together. I never imagined anything like what happened in my dream last night. I just liked being around her... I mean, I'd always thought she was pretty, but I think that about lots of people. There was one time when I came across her out in the woods and asked her if she'd come with me to go and fill some buckets of water from the stream. We had an old well at the back of the cottage, but Granny always claimed that running water was better for making mash."
"Mash?"
"It's kind of like moonshine."
"Huh!"
Emma raises a brow and glances over at Granny curiously.
"Anyway, we went to go and fetch some stream water, and while we were there, we decided to hang around and chat and make the most of the cool water as it was hot that day. There was this one bit by the rocks where the water got pretty deep, and she said she was going to take a dip before stripping out of her clothes. She was still wearing her underwear and everything, and it's not like that consisted of anything too spicy back in the Enchanted Forest, but I got a better idea of what she was hiding under her corset, and I guess I was in favour... I wasn't perving or anything, and I never delved any deeper into what I might have been thinking that day... That said, I guess I did still think about it now and then... Still, I, uh... I'd never actually seen anyone without their proper clothes on at the time - well, apart from Granny! - so I just figured the funny feeling I experienced was a weirdly pleasant kind of embarrassment or something!"
Ruby blushes as she takes a sip of her wine.
"Cute."
The blonde teases, and the waitress shrugs as she muses pensively
"It must have made more of a mark than I thought. If you'd asked me before last night if I liked her, you know, like that, I would have said no, but... After gathering some further information once dream-me knocked on the door... Well..."
She chuckles quietly, her cheeks flushed pink.
"Got some further intel, did you?"
Emma grins, and Ruby bites her lip before demanding payback for her admission.
"What about you? I didn't know you even liked girls like that... To be fair, I didn't know that I did, either."
"I don't usually, but it wasn't an entirely new discovery."
"You've had thoughts before?"
"I've had more than thoughts."
"Emma!"
"What?"
"What were you being so weird and evasive for earlier then, if this is established territory? I've been practically dying to talk to you all day!"
"Because I'd never think of the person it showed me in that way in a million years!"
"... You did, though."
Ruby points out smugly, and the blonde shakes her head in futile denial.
"So, go on, who was it?"
The brunette demands eagerly, and Emma dodges the question by asking one of her own.
"I don't get it... Why did your dream lead you to the girl you eye-fucked in the forest?"
"I did not!"
"I thought the charm was supposed to show you who you should pursue. I figured that meant who you were hot for in the local vicinity, or at least a feasible option. I thought it would suggest someone here in Storybrooke. What's the point of showing you a girl you haven't seen for almost thirty years who doesn't even live in the same realm?"
"I don't know... When I suggested it, I kind of thought it would show me which of the guys at The Rabbit I should finally let get to second base."
"Ruby! Don't use a charm to decide things like that!"
"I'm kidding!... Sort of... I thought it would show me someone here... Are you saying that's what happened for you?"
"... No. Of course not. It was just some girl I used to know... I was just confused, that's all."
And then some!
"Oh."
Ruby replies dejectedly as she'd been hoping for juicy gossip and not a reciprocal tale about a long-lost acquaintance that had sparked unresolved funny feelings.
"I guess it was kind of silly."
She states finally with a smile.
"I told you so."
"Yeah. You're a habitual buzzkill, though, aren't you?"
"Hey! Do your charms on your own next time if that's how you really feel."
"I can't. I'd have to go ask Gold or Regina, and I doubt either of them would offer me half of their blanket and a drink."
Drink.
... I'm not sure whether I should... You put something in it.
Did I?
"Probably not."
Emma forces huskily.
Still, she supposes Ruby's right. The charm was just a stupid trick that didn't even properly work in the waitress's case. True, she'd been rather alarmed by the hyper-reality of kissing the Mayor and the unwelcome words dream-Regina had taken it upon herself to share, but really... What's the big deal? It's not as though she shares the charm's insinuated interest when she's awake. Sure, she finds Regina easy on the eye; she doubts she would find many familiar with the infamous Queen who would argue against her aesthetic appeal regardless of whatever else they might think of her. She enjoys sparring with her now that murder appears to be off the table, and, yes, now and then she's found herself musing upon certain outfit choices and the hints of lace or flash of flesh they reveal, but it's purely a platonic endeavour, and it's really not her fault that the brunette occasionally buttons her shirts rather low.
It's not a big deal.
If anything, it's kind of funny!
I mean, can you imagine?!
"It really was a stupid charm."
She repeats in a much lighter tone than she's favoured all day, and Ruby giggles and nods accordingly; lamenting wickedly
"Yeah. It's a shame, though. I can't even properly picture Annie's charm-nipples anymore."
"Good for Annie!"
Emma chuckles, knocking back the last of her wine and confiding amiably
"Still, I'm kind of looking forward to a normal night's sleep."
"Aw. No wet dreams?"
"I didn't say that..."
The blonde grins, before shaking her head and stating firmly
"No. I'm hoping that between the wine and lack of messing around with weird old books and hokey talismans, I might be lucky enough to not dream at all!"
"Cheers to that!"